Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Dare to DREAM

The talking heads, pundits and
politicians will continue to debate the significance of the Obama administration’s announcement last week that it will not deport illegal
immigrants who came into the country as minors, but the incredible significance
the decision will have upon those young people cannot be underrated.I consider the decision to be a moral
victory, if an imperfect one.Lest
anyone think I’m playing partisan games and promoting the Obama
administration’s agenda, let me assure you I have plenty of gripes with this
administration regarding our broken immigration system, but at least I can say
they did this one thing right.Besides,
it is reported that Republican Senator from Florida and potential
Vice-Presidential nominee Mark Rubio was ready to put forward this same plan.Whether Democrats or
Republicans do the just and honorable thing, it’s all the same to me, just as
long as we aren’t deporting undocumented young people who consider themselves
Americans and who are willing to serve and even die for our country.

This Executive initiative
effectively does what the DREAM Act was supposed to do before it was blocked in
Congress.The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien
Minors)—if it had been passed—would have provided conditional permanent
residency to certain undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors,
graduated high school and lived in the country for five years.If they did not have a criminal record,
enrolled in college or served in the military they could extend that period and
even qualify for citizenship.The
decision last week only did this in effect but not in law.The Department of Homeland Security will
cease deportation of these young people and allow them to work in the U.S., but
there is no path to citizenship available to them.

I
share this information with you, because it has become personal for me.Over the last year I have been meeting with a
group of people from the faith community in St. Joseph who have formed the
Interfaith Alliance for Immigrants (IAI).We have learned much about immigrant communities (documented and
undocumented) in St. Joseph and about the complicated nature of immigration
policy and law in our country.I have
become convinced that our nation’s immigration system is broken, and the
consequences of this broken system are inhumane and heartbreaking.There are of course issues of national
security and criminal violence, but the vast majority of undocumented
immigrants in the U.S. truly only want a better life for their families.

If
you or I had to face the decision between crossing into the U.S. as an
undocumented immigrant or allowing our children to live in squalor, I feel sure
we would choose the former option.(News
broke today that Senator Mark Rubio writes in his new memoir that he would make
the same decision if faced with the same options.)Our nation’s politics on immigration and our
culture’s propensity for demonizing the stranger and scapegoating the other
represent a deep failure of our ability to do unto others as we would have done
to us.The “Golden Rule” is close to a
universal value held at least in principle, yet when it comes to seeing our
undocumented immigrants as worthy of the same treatment we would expect, this
value is worth little.As Christians we
are called not merely just to treat others as we wish to be treated but to LOVE
others as we wish to be LOVED.Love goes
deeper than fair treatment; it involves sacrifice and devotion to others.On this count, the American church has
largely failed to live up to its own statements of faith when it comes to
immigration.

During
my meetings with IAI, it has been a deep honor from me to get to know a young
woman named Elizabeth—not her real name.Elizabeth was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by her undocumented
immigrant parents as a young child.She
cannot remember life before coming to the U.S.She has always gone to American schools, had American friends and
absorbed American culture.She graduated
from an American university and now works for a non-profit that advocates for
immigrant rights.Until last week she
risked her own deportation to fight for other young people who like her are for
all intents and purposes Americans.When
the news broke last week, she literally was on the phone with undocumented
young people waiting to board a plane in order to be deported.Elizabeth in many ways is a better American
than I am, because she does not take for granted the freedoms and quality of
life that I often fail to appreciate.She is the kind of person our nation badly needs to help invigorate our
culture just as immigrants have done since the founding of our nation.

Elizabeth
can remain in the country, but she still cannot be a citizen.I continue to dream of a day when she and
those like her will be treated with God’s justice and loved by our nation as
worthy members of it.

2 comments:

Amen, brother! I often wonder why American "patriots" do not bask in the pride of knowing that so many people will risk death in the desert or severe punishment for a chance at enjoying the freedom of America. Most of our so-called "illegals" are actually just more of the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" among which my ancestors set sail.

Me

About Me

I'm the minister at Country Club Congregational United Church of Christ in Kansas City, MO. This blog represents my reflections on life, love, faith, politics, culture and whatever else crosses my mind. PLEASE NOTE: The opinions on this page are my own and not necessarily those of the members of my church.